Songs: Blues Saraceno - The River; The Black Keys - Lonely Boy

"UNJUST CALAMITY!"

I startled a little. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was expecting, since Krieg was pretty volatile at his best. I just wasn't quite prepared for this emotional outburst. Maya gave him a sad look and sighed.

"Easy, Krieg, it's ok." she said in a soft voice. She was doing her best to keep him calm, but he didn't look like he was having any of it.

"You heard what Lilith said. Sanctuary's gone, but we're all still Vault Hunters. Including you." she added. I felt a little pang in my own heart. Sure, Lilith had said that. But were we honestly still Vault Hunters? I mean, I could barely call myself a Vault Hunter. None of us were seriously hunting Vaults or freeing Pandora from some evil corporation at this point anymore.

"POOPED OUT BY THE VENGEFUL RICTUS!" Krieg shouted. Maya looked at him with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"You aren't just a psycho anymore. Not to me. Not to any of us." she said. I was honestly impressed by how easily she could read him. To me Krieg was a mystery to this day. To be fair, I hadn't spent a lot of time with him. I guess that is why Maya had a way better idea on what he was trying to tell her. Poor guy looked genuinely upset about her leaving Pandora, though.

We were all pretty upset to hear that Maya was going to leave, but I could kinda understand why she wanted to go back to Athenas. I just really hoped that she wouldn't be disappointed when she went back to her home planet. From what I've seen and heard, places change a lot and they might not be what you expect once you come back. Maybe that's why I put off going back to Aquator, even when there was a possibility to go there now, to actually get started on looking for some hint about a Vault.

"A KNOTTED GUT? TWO KNIVES ENTWINED!" Krieg screamed. Maya shook her head softly.

"I can't stay. I have to go to Athenas. I left those people defenseless. And I have to know more about what I am. It feels... important." she told him.

"TORN APART... From pretty lady." Krieg shouted, saying the last bit in a soft and almost sad voice. Maya gave him an encouraging smile and a pat on the back, as if she was reassuring him.

"Don't worry, big buy. I'll be back. I promise." she answered. Her voice sounded really confident and I was wondering why she was so sure she'd be back. Not to be morbid, but anything could happen. None of us really had any idea what the situation on Athenas was at the moment.

Krieg didn't seem very happy with that, either, but he seemed to understand there was no use in him protesting. Maya had made up her mind and she's leave Pandora whether any of us liked it or not. I always thought that Lilith disliked us leaving most of all, but it seemed like in Maya's case, Krieg hated her leaving even more.

"Alright, guys. This is it. I'll see you again someday." Maya said to the rest of us. We had already more or less finished saying goodbye to her at this point. She picked up her backpack that had all her meager belongings inside it.

"Keep in touch, okay? Let us know if you need help with anything." Brick told her. Maya nodded.

"Absolutely. You'll be hearing from me, don't worry. See you guys!" she replied and waved at all of us, before turning around and walking ahead towards the shuttle waiting to bring her up to a cargo ship that was bound for Athenas.

It was weird that without her, there was barely anyone left. Brick, Mordecai, Tina and I were still here. Lilith was still here, along with Tannis, Ellie and Moxxi. Axton had left a good while ago and so had Zero and Salvador. Gaige had left just a few days ago when she had finally managed to talk to Lilith about her future plans. It went down way better than expected, I had to admit. Now there were only Maya and Krieg left and Maya was just heading off to leave for Athenas.

The whole thing felt like the end of an era. And not like a good one, more like a sad ending where everything just quickly faded out and lost its importance. It was not a great feeling and I wished this whole atmosphere of people leaving and promising to be back soon with big smiles on their faces would be gone soon.

"Well, I suppose we'll be shrinking. And you guys are planning to leave soon, too, aren't you?" Lilith asked Mordecai and me.

"Relax, Lil, only once we find any hints on where other Vaults could be. It's not like we'll be leaving tomorrow." Mordecai said and shrugged.

"Unless we find anything on a Vault today." Brick chimed in.

"Even then we wouldn't leave tomorrow, because it would take us way longer to organize passage on a cargo ship. You'll have us here for at least a week. Maybe not much longer, though. From the sounds of it, Anouk has been putting a hell of a lot of effort into her Vault research." I said. I quickly glanced over at Krieg who was slowly wandering off on his own. Poor guy really seemed to need some time to himself now. He had caught massive feelings for Maya.

"It's just a little sad to see everyone leave one after the other. But there is still a lot to do on this planet. I'll follow once we have a working ship and the map. I hope that won't take us too long after all." Lilith said and looked out over the desert landscape. She seemed to be talking more to herself than to us.

"Hey, Lil, it's not like we're leaving forever. Once we've found a Vault we'll be heading back to Pandora and check in with you again." I said to her, trying to cheer her up, but I knew she wouldn't listen to it. I barely believed that any of the Vault Hunters would be back any time soon.

Just as I finished saying that I could hear my ECHO beeping. I looked down at it, kind of already knowing what it would be. With my luck it had to be a message from Anouk saying she found a Vault and had arranged a ship for us that we could leave on tomorrow... I took a closer look at it and indeed it was a message from Anouk.

Need to talk. Call me ASAP.

"Who's that?" Lilith asked. Fuck. She had noticed it. She would know immediately, if we were about to leave soon as well.

"Anouk. Says to call her as soon as possible." I mumbled and was about to put the ECHO away again.

"So why aren't you calling her?" Lilith wanted to know. I shrugged.

"I dunno, seems kinda rude right now, doesn't it?" I replied.

"Are you scared that I'll be mad if she says she found out something about a Vault?"

"Maybe."

Lilith gave me a long and intense look and then sighed, as if she was about to explain something she had explained to me ten times already.

"Nova. How often do I need to tell you? I don't mind if you leave. Of course, I'd prefer you to stay and all, but I told all of you myself that you should go out and do your own thing. I can't keep you on Pandora forever. You just gotta do what you gotta do. Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine." she said to me.

"I know... I just... I just feel really bad about leaving you behind." I replied. Lilith nodded with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah, as you should. Now go and call back your daughter, I wanna know what this is about!" she told me with an excited tone to her voice. I laughed and shook my head slightly while tapping on the ECHO device to call Anouk. She picked up the call immediately, as if she had been waiting by her ECHO.

"Yes?" I heard her voice, kinda distant and scraggly.

"Anouk? You said to call back ASAP, what's up?" I asked her.

"Okay, you won't believe this, but I actually found loads of evidence on a Vault." she answered, her voice sounding really excited. I fucking knew it. I glanced over at Lilith, but she seemed pretty chill.

"Alright, sounds good. Where is it? Can you send over what you found out?" I wanted to know.

"Okay, so it seems like there is actually a Vault on Aeres. Like, right where I am. Not where I am, but on the same planet. You know what I mean."

"There is a Vault on the Vladof planet?"

"Yup."

"And... it's still there? No one has touched it yet?"

"Doesn't really say. There has been some research on it, but after a while it's been kept hushed and all. Not sure if that means they've been looking for it in secret or whether they figured it would be better if they left it alone. I suppose you gotta come over here and find out yourselves."

"Alright, sounds good. Any idea on what we need to be able to get to Aeres?"

"Don't worry, I've got it all sorted. I am organizing you an invitation and visas, so you can see all parts of the planet freely. You should be able to get around without many restrictions anyway. Try not to bring weapons with too many non-Vladof parts, though, they'd either get confiscated when you arrive or if anyone sees them around here. Ships aren't too frequent, but there are regular ones from Eden IV, so if you can get there you can get a different ship to Aeres."

"Alright, shouldn't be a problem for me anyway, I use mostly Vladof guns. Are you gonna send us all that stuff over the ECHO?"

"Yup, just let me know when you get on a cargo ship to Eden IV. I'll send them over then. And let me know when you'll arrive."

"Sure thing. I'll talk it through with everyone right away. Thanks for organizing all that. I'll talk to you again soon, okay?"

"Yeah, talk to you soon!"

With that Anouk disconnected. It still felt pretty surreal to me. I needed some time to actually process what had just happened. Anouk had found evidence of a Vault. On Aeres. We were going to Aeres. Hunting a Vault. Without Lilith. Just Mordecai, Brick, Tina and me. That was wild. It felt weird.

"So? What are you gonna do?" Lilith asked me.

"I guess... I guess we're going to Aeres. Hunt a Vault."